(jaunty music) ♪ Riding along in my automobile ♪ - [Jason] Cruising along U.S. Highway 70, ♪ My baby beside me at the wheel ♪ - [Jason] Mainstream downtown Valdese.
♪ I stole a kiss at the turn of a mile ♪ - [Jason] Once you get past all the buildings, it appears.
♪ Runnin' wild - [Jason] like a walk back in time.
♪ Playin' the radio - Back in time, yeah.
♪ With no particular place to go ♪ - [Jason] A 1950s style restaurant that goes by one simple name, Myra's.
- Well, it's sort of right here in the main drag of town, you know, is on Highway 70 here.
And it's sort of become a landmark over the years.
- [Jason] The inside of Myra's looks like a scene out of "Happy Days".
♪ These days are ours ♪ Happy and free ♪ Oh, happy days - [Jason] From the neon signs to the barbershop pole, fire hydrant, classic gumball machines, a blaring traffic light, and, of course, regulars filling the booths.
- This place has been here forever and ever and ever.
- It's very nostalgic - [Jason] And food-wise, the menu is about what you'd expect.
- We started off real simple.
We started off with hamburgers and hot dogs.
- [Jason] And, of course, what would a retro place like this be without some sweet treats?
(machine whirring) - I've been here many years, even when I was a kid.
(chuckles) - The nostalgic end of it there with the banana splits, the ice cream sundaes, the milkshakes and the sodas, and stuff like that was sort of the same theme, and I never would change.
It was always the same.
I didn't know how really to modernize it.
(chuckles) I'm afraid to, really.
(uptempo music) Good evening, Carolina cruises and high-riders.
Welcome to another fine edition of the Friday Night Cruise-In.
Live from Myra's fabulous '50s diner, right here in the heart of beautiful downtown Valdese North Carolina.
- [Jason] Making the Myra's throwback vibe even more authentic, classic cars parked all around it.
No, this isn't a car show, it's a Cruise-In, and it happens every Friday night.
- It's kind of tradition for people to come out on Friday nights and see the cars, and kind of stroll down through Main Street.
- It's pretty cool to get your old cars out, take a look and see what other people have brought, and just meet people.
- [Jason] The Cruise-Ins have been going on for about 25 years, and they have a DJ playing '50s classics.
- Kickback, relax, and enjoy the sights and the sound of Friday Night Cruise-In.
Well, I can go to the beach most of the year, and I still see people there say, "Oh yeah, you're that little town over there between Hickory and Morganton that has the car show."
And, you know, you'd be surprised at the people that still come around to it.
- [Jason] But since it's not an official car show, there's no charge to enter, no judging, no prizes or anything like that, just area car enthusiasts hanging out on Friday nights with their prized possessions.
- We usually have 80 to 120 cars.
They come from Lincolnton, Lenoir, Hudson, Wilkesboro, all the surrounding towns.
- Got a 1967 Chevrolet Stepside pickup truck.
And it started out as my grandfather truck, and my dad inherited it.
And from there, it's a five-year project with me and my dad.
- We come every Friday night and park across the street over there and get our chairs out and come and eat.
And we're here every Friday night for the Cruise-In because it's so much fun.
- [Jason] In the summer months, especially around 4th of July, things can get so busy, they have to close down Main Street.
- It brings a lot of people in, and it's neat to have.
- And anything that we can do to bring people downtown, I mean, it helps all the businesses.
So, I mean, the fact that Myra's has been doing this for so long, it's just a great boost for our downtown.
- [Jason] And the man who started all this says it all kind of happened by accident.
- I had no idea about what we were trying to even create, or even I had no inkling other than, you know, I wanted one real bad.
And the first one I got was a '57 Chevrolet Bel Air Sport Coupe.
- [Jason] Larry and Audrey Earp own Myra's.
Larry's always been a nostalgic kind of guy from the classic cars he owns to his basement, which is filled with toys and unique gadgets from the '50s.
And Myra's has been a part of his life for decades.
The restaurant started out as a little ice cream shop.
- They started it in 1958, and it was opened up as a Tastee-Freez.
And even a cone ice cream back then was only 9 cent a cone.
- [Jason] And back in those days, everyone in town knew Larry's Aunt Myra.
- Myra was an aunt, that's right, and she worked at the bakery up here, which was a Waldensian Bakery.
She worked up there, what was it, 54 years, wasn't it?
- [Jason] In 1977, Larry and Audrey bought the Tastee-Freez and started expanding, renaming it after Aunt Myra.
- To tell you the truth, she objected to it for a little while, and then it kind of caught on, and we set it up as the '50s restaurant.
It was sort of a nostalgic thing.
We put the awnings up front to give you the closeness of when you come in and everything.
I tried to recap as many of the nostalgic things.
- When you know something is good, you go back and back.
(chuckles) So they have good food and good service, and they're friendly.
- We didn't have trays to put out on the windows like I wanted them, (chuckles) or the curb hops like it used to be in my day.
- [Jason] As the business expanded, it became a town staple.
Then in the late '90s, Larry installed blue and yellow neon around the outside of the building.
- Some of the people said, "Why don't you let some of these old cars park around our parking lot?"
I didn't know if it would go or not, but we started letting a few of 'em park around, and that's how we started.
- And it's just grown and grown, and we've about outgrown this area.
So, you know, it's got so big, - [Jason] Myra's and the Friday Night Cruise-In.
- There've been a lot of people tried us, you know, tried to copy us in the past, but, you know, this is where we are.
This is our life.
- [Jason] The heartbeat of this small foothills town of less than 5,000 people.
For "Carolina Impact", I'm Jason Terzis reporting.